Re: My Primary Coil disaster

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Peter Lawrence by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Peter.Lawrence-at-Sun-dot-com>

Patrick,
        Most would say don't make the primary mount with holes, use slots
instead and lay the coil down into the slots. My own method is to use holes,
but to bend the tubing first then thread the mounts onto the coil and then
LASTLY attach the mounts to the table. You are right, feeding tubing through
mount holes that are already affixed to the table will never work.
-Pete Lawrence.

>Original poster: "Patrick Bloofon by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" 
<transactoid-at-home-dot-com>
>
>Okay, this whole tesla coil thing has not been going my way. First, the wire
>breaks while winding the secondary (perhaps you've seen my post...). Now, my
>primary coil is all but an expensive hunk of copper.
> 
>I cut out and drilled 5 really nice offsets. I mounted them onto a
surface, and
>began feeding 1/4" copper tube through it, starting from the outside.  After
>about 5 loops, the tubing was so bent, twisted, and demented out of shape I
>couldn't go any further.  Loops were overlapping and the tube was flexed in
>multiple planes (ie, bent side to side as well as up and down...). I'll try to
>get some pictures up so you can see this mess.
> 
>What I'd like to know is:
> 
>-Are there any good ways to re-bend or straigten the copper tubing when it is
>in such a state? (ie, is this thing salvagable)
> 
>-Seeing as my method of winding failed miserably, I'm guessing it's not how
>others do it. What is the "proper" way to wind it?
> 
>PS. This copper tube is extremely expensive where I live. The cheapest I found
>was $30 for 50 feet.  Home Depot doesn't even carry it around here.
> 
>Thanks,
>"A very frustrated coiler",
>Patrick
> 
>
>
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